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ellia201's avatar
ellia201
2 years ago
Solved

Sims 3 on disc won't load on EA App after repair

Hello everyone! This is my first time posting something here despite playing the Sims for a few years, however I am a complete noob in the world of the Sims (2 & 3) on disc so you might hear more from me in the future (sorry), and I wanted to ask for some advice?

The summary of my issue is that I have the Sims 3, TS3 Generations and TS3 Supernatural all on disc (I don't have any of the other DLCs yet), and they all worked perfectly until I started to run into a few small issues (like none of my Sims being unable to add candles onto a birthday cake for example despite trying multiple counters/tables), and since the Sims 3 appears in the EA App despite having it on disc, I decided to hit the repair button. It repaired all of my game files, however the game no longer loads at all. The Sims 3 menu still loads (where you can see you DLCs, CC, bought store content...etc), yet as soon as I hit play I get sent back to the EA App and nothing happens.

I have tried to restart my PC to no avail. I have also spoken to EA staff regarding this, and they have tried to re-install my Sims 3 game, yet that did not work either due to no fault of their own. I wondered if anyone had a solution for this? Or have I just completely messed up my game? I do not want to entirely re-install my Sims 3 game as I have a really nice save I was working on, unless someone could advise me on how to keep my save data safe in its entirety?

Thank you!

pc
technical issues

7 Replies

  • ellia201's avatar
    ellia201
    2 years ago

    Hello! Thank you so much for your response! I have seen how great you are with aiding people with their games, so thank you so much for your service!

    I have just run a dxdiag, is there any specific information you need? Or do you mean that I should send the report to EA?

  • ellia201's avatar
    ellia201
    2 years ago

    I have been experimenting more with the issue I am having, and I just pressed play on the Sims 3 in the EA App without the disc in the DVD player, and it tried to open it yet failed once again. So, what I think is happening is that its getting confused as to what I am playing with, as all of my files probably relate to the disc version, whilst the EA App is trying to load the digital version.

    However, what was happening yesterday was that the game wouldn't even open through the disc version, so is a clean re-install the only way to go about this? If so, would someone be able to help me with how to fully keep all of my save data? I have made different coloured clothes as well utilising the colour wheel, and I saw that there was a file relating to clothes, so would I need to keep this too?

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @ellia201  I would like to read the dxdiag myself.  Please attach it to a reply to this thread.

    When you repair or update a Sims 3 disc install through the EA App, the App should make the changes necessary for the game to run properly through the App.  I'm not saying the process never fails, only that it's not typical.

    If you would prefer, you can do a clean uninstall of Sims 3 and reinstall via disc.  Remove the EA App too before reinstalling.  And instead of a simple uninstall, use Revo Uninstaller or Piriform's CCleaner (the free versions are fine) to remove all leftover registry entries and other hidden files and folders.  If you have saves you want to preserve, rename the Sims 3 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts to something that doesn't include "Sims 3" so the app you're using doesn't flag it for deletion too.

  • ellia201's avatar
    ellia201
    2 years ago

    I am so sorry for the late reply, I've been quite busy over the past few days! Please find attached my DxDiag file. I have removed my PC name and IP just in case a random person tries to find my PC or something, but everything else thats relevant should be there? Thank you so much for your help!

    I will wait to do a re-install until you have given me more advice as I wouldn't want to disturb anything. Thank you so much for the tips though, I will keep it in mind if I do have to complete a re-install.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @ellia201  The problem here is that you updated Sims 3 with the EA App to patch 1.69.  The issue is not the App itself but that the game's executable is now TS3.exe, without the W.  So you'll need to apply the same Alder Lake workaround you must have used before, at least when playing on this computer:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11057820#M248615

    Except instead of applying it to TS3W.exe, with the W, as you would with a disc install, apply it to TS3.exe, without the W.

  • ellia201's avatar
    ellia201
    2 years ago

    Oh my gosh, this has fixed my game and it is working as intended now! Thank you so so much for all of your help! Honestly, you are a life saver! ❤️

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